Dominica: Nature Island Living Up to Its Name

Of all the Leeward Islands, I was most excited to visit Dominica. We love the outdoors and we couldn’t wait to explore its untouched beauty. Known as Nature Island, Dominica’s green countryside is brightly colored with beautiful exotic flowers. Its mountain peaks reach the clouds and the waterfalls are dramatic in both height and volume. More than once, we were told by locals that Dominica has 365 rivers, “one for every day of the year.” It was time to get our hiking shoes muddy.

Anchorages

There are two main anchorages in Dominica: Portsmouth and Roseau. Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth is wonderfully calm and projected. It’s nearly two miles long, leaving plenty of room for its many visitors to anchor. The uncrowded beach made it easy for us to walk the pups in the morning and evenings. And Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services (PAYS) not only maintains the dinghy docks and provides security, but they also offer a number of services to yachters, including free Wi-Fi. Portsmouth is one of our favorite anchorages in the Leeward Islands. While we were there, we hiked a portion of the Waitukubuli Trail, took a tour of the Indian River, and rented a car to explore more inland.

While Portsmouth is nice and convenient, Roseau is a different story. The anchorage is extremely deep (120 feet) nearly all the way to shore, making it very difficult to anchor. A mooring ball costs $40 EC (~ 15 USD) a night and while the mooring ball owners provide some services, such as tours and propane refills, they do not offer the same amenities as Portsmouth. The rocky shore makes it impossible to land a dinghy, so cruisers have to access land by using the mooring ball owner’s dinghy dock. This made it difficult for us to walk the pups each day.

In Roseau our friends’ boat washed ashore when the shackle on their mooring failed during a northern swell. The boat sustained considerable damage, which is why we made an unexpected trip to Martinique and escorted them 10 hours to a haul out facility. When we returned to Dominica, we chose to avoid Roseau and sailed straight to Portsmouth. The only issue was that many of the hikes we wanted to do are near Roseau. So, we decided to brave the Dominica roads, rent a car, and explore the island. For us, renting a car and the extra hour drive, was worth the peace of mind and convenience of the Portsmouth anchorage.

Whales!!!!

Even our sail back to Dominica from Martinique was magical. We were cruising, close reached and averaging over 7 kts under full sail. We were testing out the new rigging and enjoying the feel of the hot sun on our shoulders and a nice breeze through our hair. As we neared Roseau we spotted what we initially thought was a pod of dolphins. But when we saw large blow holes shooting out massive water spouts, we quickly realize we were seeing whales for the first time. I tried to capture the pilot whales on camera, but it was nearly impossible.

Indian River Tour

PAYS primary business is river tours. Based on the number of visitors we saw enter the river each day, I think it’s safe to assume that very few cruisers leave Portsmouth without a tour of the Indian River. We didn’t want to miss out on the main attraction, so we too signed up.

Our tour guide, Bonty, picked us up at our boat around 9:00am and we were off. Once we were in the mouth of the river, Bonty raised up his outboard engine and began paddling. Motorized boats are not allowed in the river, which makes it feel even more peaceful. The river is narrow and huge trees with twisted roots line both sides, creating a canopy overhead. Vines hang down into the water and bright, colorful flowers can be spotted on the banks. It’s no wonder this location was chosen as Calypso’s (the witch) home in Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Waitukubuli Trail (Section 9)

Based on Chris Doyle’s recommendation in his guidebook, we decided to hike Section 9 of the Waitukubuli Trail. We knew it would be a somewhat challenging hike, but we are no strangers to steep climbs and long treks. Maybe it was the recent rainfall or maybe the trail hasn’t been maintained, but this hike was more than challenging. It was impossible. The first half we climbed up and up, giving us some great views of the anchorage. We welcomed the exercise. However, as we started to descend into the ravine, things went bad quickly. It became impossible to get any traction on the muddy, steep trail. We were using trees as hand hold, but occasionally the trees were too far apart and we ended up on the ground. Our feet started to become useless as we continued to slide down. One fall sent Rob tumbling down the mountainside. That’s when we called it quits. It was time to turn around.

Though we didn’t finish the hike, we still got a taste of Dominica’s lush, green forest and beauty. We washed off in a swimming hole near the Indian River spring. On the way back to the boat we even stopped to pick some fresh grapefruits. The countryside is covered in fruit trees. We had just started to explore Nature Island, but so far it was living up to its reputation.

Boiling Lake Hike and Titou Gorge

Known as the most challenging and most unique hike on the island, Boiling Lake was at the top of our list. We signed up for the hike through SeaCat in Roseau and they picked us up from our boat early the following morning. We were then introduced to Tom and Tara, a young couple from Vancouver, and Kenny, our barefoot guide for the day. Tom and Tara were traveling from St. Martin to Martinique on Tom’s father’s recently purchased 34 foot sailboat, Hideaway. As it turns out, we were following Hideaway’s escapades long before we set sail, when she belonged to Tasha and Ryan from Turf to Surf. It was nice to see the boat adventuring again and meet the new owners.

Because the four of us are “young and strong”, Kenny informed us that we would be taking an alternate route to the Boiling Lake. We would then hike out on the typical trial. This sounded wonderful to us. We could see more of the countryside by not backtracking.

We were dropped off near some farm land and started our trek into the rainforest. Almost immediately it started raining and did not let up until after we reached the lake. The trail quickly turned muddy and any hopes of staying clean and dry went out the window. We continued to trek through thick brush, over small rivers, and along steep edges. At times the trail completely disappeared and I started to wonder how we were going to make it back down. It would have been absolutely impossible to do this trail without a guide. We were grabbing onto vines and tree roots, pulling ourselves up the steep terrain. We were scrambling over rocks and wadding through mud.

Our hike through the rainforest seemed to last forever. Finally we came to a clearing and could look down into the Valley of Desolation. Way off into the distance we saw clouds of steam rising up into the sky. That was the boiling lake and we still had a lot of hiking ahead of us.

As we descended into the Valley of Desolation, the trail we were on met up with the typical trail (the one we would be taking back) and we saw that there were stairs. At that moment, all four of us were asking ourselves the same thing. We could have been on a trail with stairs this entire time instead of slogging through the thick forest?!?! Well, at least we gained an appreciation of Dominica’s thick vegetation.

The Valley of Desolation has to be the most unique terrain we’ve ever hiked through. We were engulfed in the steam rising up from the hot springs that were sputtering all around us. The rocks were stained red, black, and gray from the various minerals in the water. And the hot river that flowed down the hillside appeared bright blue is some areas and dark grey in others. While we stopped to take it all in, Kenny began preparing a snack for us. He placed a bag of local eggs into the spring water and they boiled in no time. When Kenny removed them, their brown shells had turned black. The sulfur and iron in the water had reacted to produce iron sulfide which adhered to the shell, giving the eggs their new eerie look.  We welcomed the warm treat. They were delicious.

We followed the hot river up the hill side and then winded our way around the mountain to the boiling lake. What a steamy sight. At 60 yards wide, this is the second largest boiling lake in the world. The lake appeared to be boiling aggressively and steam just poured off of it. This made it impossible to actually capture the sight on camera.

Afterwards, we hiked back through the Valley of Desolation and out of the rainforest on a much less treacherous path. At the end of the hike, we reached Titou Gorge, a beautiful swimming hole. Even though we were water logged from all the rain, we braved the frigid water and went for a swim into the canyon. Large walls surrounded us and light rays beamed in from up above. Green vines hung down and at the back of the canyon, a waterfall roared as it splashed over the cliff side and into the pool. It was a beautiful way to end our long, but impressive hike.

Middleham Falls

It’s only a 45 minute hike to Middleham Falls. The trailhead would have been easy to find if the main road to Laudat hadn’t been washed out. The detour through Wotten Waven was a little tricky, but we eventually winded our way up the small roads to the park sign that pointed us to a gravel road. After only 5 minutes on the gravel road, we arrived at the trailhead.

The trail is anything but flat. We were either climbing uphill or walking downhill the entire time. But the trail was well maintained and it seemed like a breeze compared to the Boiling Lake hike. The waterfall has to be one of the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. Water poured out of the green mountain side and splashed down into a turquoise blue swimming hole. It was a gorgeous sight and well worth the hike.

Trafalgar Falls

Trafalgar Falls is actually two dramatic waterfalls located only a 5 minute walk off the road in the town of Trafalgar. Each one is glorious on its own, but together they create an unbelievable site. Hikers can scramble over the rocks to the base of the large falls to take a swim in the hot spring pool. We were tempted, but decided to visit the hot spring baths just down the road in Wotten Waven instead.

Wotten Waven Hot Springs

Colorado has its fair share of hot springs and we’ve visited several of them. But the hot springs in Wotten Waven are hands down my favorite. There are several hot spring establishments to choose from. We settled on Ti Kwen Glo Cho mostly because I saw a picture of their old cast iron tubs in our guidebook and I was dying for a hot bath.

We paid the $10 entrance fee and walked into the most peaceful and relaxing natural spa. The grounds were absolutely stunning and well maintained. Beautiful flowers and ferns lined the walk ways down to two hot pools. I loved sinking into the almost scalding hot water. When it was time to cool off, a nearby waterfall provided a steady stream of frigid water. Visitors spending the afternoon at the springs, bounced between the two.

But my favorite part of Ti Kwen Glo Cho, was the four secluded old cast iron tubs. Underneath a canopy of shade provided by the lush green vegetation, bamboo pipes routed the hot water to flow into the old fashion tubs. It has honestly been over two years since I last soaked in a hot bath. As I lowered myself down into the steamy water, my muscles instantly relaxed and I was in heaven. Birds were chirping overhead and the only other sound was that of the water splashing into the tub.  I can’t think of anything more peaceful. If we didn’t need to get back to the boat for the pups, I would have spent the entire evening in that spot.

Dominica is different than any other island we’ve visited in the Eastern Caribbean. The lack of commercial development has preserved this island’s natural beauty. Lush rainforest, volcanic peaks, sparkling waterfalls, boiling waters, and bright beautiful flowers can be viewed on a single hike. We saw some great sights here, but we only scratched the surface of the many, many natural sites and hikes Dominica has to offer. Although our stay was short, it’s clear that Dominica certainly lives up to its nickname—Nature Island.